Mistrust fuels intolerance in divided Kosovo

By Adam Tanner

GORAZDEVAC, Kosovo (Reuters) - Darko Dimitrijevic lives in a Serbian enclave of Kosovo that is protected by international troops and rarely interacts with ethnic Albanians in surrounding villages.

Better-stocked Albanian stores and cafes, as well as a cinema and other amenities, are minutes away by car from his village of 1,000 Serbs in western Kosovo.

But like almost all residents of Gorazdevac, he stays away, fearing intolerance and perhaps violence.

"We are Christians, they are Muslims. They have a different way of life," said Dimitrijevic, a 24-year-old radio station manager who like most young Serbs does not speak Albanian.

He said violence often seemed to set back hopes of better relations, referring to an incident in which two Serb youth in the village were shot dead in 2003.

Dimitrijevic says he could move to Serbia for a better life but wants to stay in the village where his grandfather and great grandfather lived and his family and friends are today.

He hopes politicians can bridge the differences between Serbs and Albanians.

"I'm too small to change anything by myself," he said. "It has to come from the leaders."

The international community is hoping in coming days to win approval for a European Union police and justice mission (EULEX) to help run police, courts and customs in Kosovo, a small region with a population of about 2 million people.

Kosovo has long been a source of tension in the volatile Balkans and remains so following its Albanian leaders' declaration of independence from Serbia on February 17.

About 16,000 NATO peacekeepers oversee the peace in Kosovo following a war between Serbian forces and separatist Albanian guerrillas that killed 8,000-12,000 civilians in 1998-99.

The Albanian separatists rose up after long complaining of oppression by the Serbs and following a surge in Serbian nationalism stoked by late Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic.

ETHNIC DIVIDE

Most Serbs in Kosovo -- just 10 percent of the population -- now live in protected enclaves, mostly in the north.

Although Kosovo's population is dominated by largely secular Albanians of Muslim heritage, Serbs consider Kosovo the cradle of the Serbian Orthodox Church and nation.